Strava Climbing Competition

doyler78

vs wrote:

doyler78 wrote:

Here's someone who likes the hills :shock:

http://app.strava.com/rides/5389979#

I see he gave himself kudos

Yeah, I knew I'd get stick for that!!!

I was so tired that like a TW@T! I clicked the wrong button when I was trying to see who had given Kudous and then I couldn't delete it.

Thanks for pointing it out though...

Mate you deserve all the credit you can get for that ride. I'd give myself a pat on the back if I managed a ride like that (or sign myself into the local mental hospital)

vs

Thanks chap. I've asked Strava to remove the embarrassing Kudous. I guess my hands were shaking so much from all the freezing descending, and the crazyness of climbing (and descending, the worse bit) 50,000 feet in 4 days.

Matt the Tester

jesus, nice ride :O

inseine

Question, anyone know how you view all your segments? I can only find where I'm KoM. Thanks

doyler78

inseine wrote:

Question, anyone know how you view all your segments? I can only find where I'm KoM. Thanks

You can't via Strava. Their reporting is basic to say the least

inseine

OK, thanks. Yeah, a bit basic in a few areas.

vs

doyler78 wrote:

inseine wrote:

Question, anyone know how you view all your segments? I can only find where I'm KoM. Thanks

You can't via Strava. Their reporting is basic to say the least

From your dashboard there is a big button which says "My Segments" - if you click on that it gives you a tab for "Created Segments"

I'm still hoping to be the first out of 8000 riders to 105,312 feet...
http://app.strava.com/challenges/specialized-classic

doyler78

vs wrote:

doyler78 wrote:

inseine wrote:

Question, anyone know how you view all your segments? I can only find where I'm KoM. Thanks

You can't via Strava. Their reporting is basic to say the least

From your dashboard there is a big button which says "My Segments" - if you click on that it gives you a tab for "Created Segments"

I'm still hoping to be the first out of 8000 riders to 105,312 feet...
http://app.strava.com/challenges/specialized-classic

I took him to mean all segments where he has a time posted and not just the ones he has actually created.

mclarent

That super climber on the front page looks a bit fat considering how good a rider / climber he is.

vs

mclarent wrote:

That super climber on the front page looks a bit fat considering how good a rider / climber he is.

Who are you referring to?

mclarent

That guy Brian Toone.

Maybe it's the beard.

vs

I think it's the beard, his face looks skinny enough...he just won the Alabama State Pro Road Race, so he can ride.

mclarent

Yeah - that's the photos I was looking at. He doesn't look like he has an eating disorder, just thought that was odd. Must be the beard.

Gavin Cook

Hi
I find it hard to believe that this is humanly possible. I live up a 4265 feet high mountain which I have to climb almost every time I ride and and I have done 319120 feet of climbing in the last 365 days.

Gavin

vs

Gavin Cook wrote:

Hi
I find it hard to believe that this is humanly possible. I live up a 4265 feet high mountain which I have to climb almost every time I ride and and I have done 319120 feet of climbing in the last 365 days.

Gavin

So your average is 875 feet a day.

I'm leading the challenge and have climbed 166,000 feet in the last 17 days which is an average of 9764 feet a day, which I can assure you is "humanly possible"

You just have to get out more: 122 hours in the saddle in those 17 days (and yes I do have a day job).

RoadMeridaBen

vs wrote:

Gavin Cook wrote:

Hi
I find it hard to believe that this is humanly possible. I live up a 4265 feet high mountain which I have to climb almost every time I ride and and I have done 319120 feet of climbing in the last 365 days.

Gavin

So your average is 875 feet a day.

I'm leading the challenge and have climbed 166,000 feet in the last 17 days which is an average of 9764 feet a day, which I can assure you is "humanly possible"

You just have to get out more: 122 hours in the saddle in those 17 days (and yes I do have a day job).

Must be a part-time job of 3 hours a day or you are sleeping on the bike :P

vs

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Must be a part-time job of 3 hours a day or you are sleeping on the bike :P

Just re-calculated and it is in fact 94 hours in 17 days (added one of the weeks twice :oops: )

Which averages 5.5 hours a day, quite doable around work when you figure in weekends and riding early mornings and evenings...

RoadMeridaBen

vs wrote:

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Must be a part-time job of 3 hours a day or you are sleeping on the bike :P

Just re-calculated and it is in fact 94 hours in 17 days (added one of the weeks twice :oops: )

Which averages 5.5 hours a day, quite doable around work when you figure in weekends and riding early mornings and evenings...

That depends on what you do I suppose, I work as a plumber and theres no way I would have the energy to do that amount of cycling and work to a decent level lol. Do you actually get anything from this strava thingy?
I see you've got a Kom near the Crai resevoir about 30 miles where I live, I'll have that next time I go that way :P

Scrap that just checked and your not longer 1st :P

Slater

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Scrap that just checked and your not longer 1st :P

I just checked and Robin is 1st again.

http://app.strava.com/challenges/specialized-classic

vs

Slater wrote:

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Scrap that just checked and your not longer 1st :P

I just checked and Robin is 1st again.

http://app.strava.com/challenges/specialized-classic

I think he's on about the KOM near his house, which I must have done during a sportive...which I think says enough about that one then

RoadMeridaBen

Just read about the competition, a water a bottle and a surprise gift... is it really worth spending hours on end climbing at no real intensity just for a crappy water bottle? :shock:

Would much rather get some quality training in to be honest.

vs

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Would much rather get some quality training in to be honest.

And that's your prerogative Ben, enjoy yourself...

For me 'quality training' is about riding in zone 2 for hours on end, so this fits well with my training.

vs

So the challenge is over. 701 finishers from the 10,919 entries.

From a personal point of view it was rollercoaster 47 days. Some incredible highs and desperate lows, particularly in the 9 days I took to become the first finisher. My second target of doing the challenge twice in less than half the given time (210,624 feet in 23 days) was achieved but left me empty, both emotionally and physically. I took a break over the Easter hols and didn't really push it in the second half, so I was very happy to finish 3rd, and although a distant 3rd, well clear of 4th, with 302,159 feet.

http://app.strava.com/challenges/specialized-classic

I wrote a piece on the Strava discussion board about the first 9 days; maybe somebody might find some inspiration from a 47 year old father of two little girls, who usually rides about 10 hour a week:

Day 1: I'd spent 6 winter months riding a cyclocross bike around Exmoor on knobbly tyres in level 1/2, which, as it turned out, was ideal preparation for this challenge. My road bike now felt so light, my rested body strong. 103.5 miles. 15,756 feet.

Day 2: I had not yet left level 1/2 so I'd recovered well. I would all but replicate yesterday. 94.4 miles. 14,566 feet.

Day 3: The first problem day. My wife was working in Plymouth, 100 miles away, I had to babysit. I had planned to use this as a recovery day but I didn't yet feel the need to recover, so I got in a few feet at 6.30am before she left. 26 miles. 4,416 feet.

Day 4: This was the first hard day. It was so cold on the moor that descending became a nightmare. My plan was to do a normal ride but climb every hill twice thus doubling the elevation. 106.8 miles. 15,270.

Day 5: Another problem day. Babysitting until 9pm. It was dark and cold but I put on my headphones (there was no traffic and I could see any car lights from behind anyway) and rode until 2am. It was a blast, the best time I'd had on a bike for years: Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins and Dinosaur Jr I thank you! 57.4 miles 9,176 feet.

Day 6: The euphoria of last night turned into the biggest non-alcoholic hangover ever. I hadn't recovered and slept late but somehow managed 41.9 miles and 8,044 feet. The worse day so far by far.

Day 7: Still very tired I just about coped to repeat yesterday: 42.1 miles and 7,740 feet.

Day 8: The two 'easy days' paid off and I was gutted when my 'fully charged' computer battery died 26 miles short of my 100 mile day's goal. 73.6 miles. 11,245 feet. This meant tomorrow would have to be a 'go large' day.

Day 9: Friday. With the weekend beckoning, I imagined others would have more opportunity to ride. I had to finish today. I broke this down into 3 rides and recharged my dying computer and my dying body in between. The third ride started at 8pm and finished just before midnight. 112.5 miles. 19,530 feet.

105,743 feet climbed in 658 miles in 9 days:

That makes my daily average for the 9 days was 11,749 feet in 73 miles. The Fred is 11,364 in 109 miles. http://ridewithgps.com/routes/774500

nickel

Chapeau! Unfortunately a couple of weeks into the challenge I picked up some tendonitis in my left knee which meant spending the next 3 weeks off the bike, so thats my excuse for only managing to complete a third of the climbing (not that I ever had a hope in hell at completing this challenge!). However just before my knee got bad I got a 70miler in on exmoor, first time I've ridden on exmoor since before christmas and I've got say it was the most enjoyable ride I've ever done. Conquered dunkery beacon from luccombe which is by far the toughest climb I've ever done, and also the most spectacular. Looking forward to riding on exmoor again on sunday as part of the somerset hills gran fondo.